Blogging through “The Jesus You Can’t Ignore,” chapters 3 and 4

Chapter three began with the presumption of the problem I discussed in chapter 2. Author John MacArthur again presented the timing of his first cleansing of the temple event as vital to the setting for when Nicodemus came to Jesus in secret. But the initial problem can be set aside for his subsequent commentary on the John iii dialogue between the Lord and the Pharisee.

I found his commentary very helpful. He looked at what Jesus was saying from the perspective, or the ears, of Nicodemus, and went into a discussion of what would have gone on in the mind of Nicodemus as he listened to the response of Jesus. If you want to get a fairly strong exposition of John iii and what was meant by being born of water and spirit, I’d suggest taking a look into what MacArthur has to say. But, again, there was a lot of extraneous, unnecessary information included; almost as if he was trying to fill space (I especially saw this in the fourth chapter). And it still carries the sermon-like tone.

Chapter four focused on the story of Jesus healing the paralytic who was dropped in through the roof. This is a difficult chapter to work through because of the superfluous information and stage setting. MacArthur ended up sermonizing so much, and dramatizing the irrelevant points, that I forgot what the book was about.

The point of the book, I thought, was to be rid of the idea of “a meek, perpetually friendly, sentimental messiah reaching out to other religious leaders and engaging in scholarly dialogue with them instead of challenging them” (pg.45). But this could easily have been done swifter than he has done so far. In fact, he hasn’t made the case yet. He has given a couple of examples, a couple of instances, but there is no meat to it. So far there is nothing to engage with.

Half way through the book and I am extremely bored and disengaged from the text. Books like Binding the Strong Man, The Politics of Jesus, Jesus, Politics, and Society, all have essentially the same goal, but those three works do a splendid job of making their case throughout, keeping the reader challenged and thinking (engaged with the book), and giving you tri-tip like meat to chew on for years.

I will continue to read the book until completed, but so far there is little to enjoy and learn from. The writing is too simple, so I’m actually fearful for who the intended audience really is. That’s not to be offensive; but I would think people should be held to a higher standard, given more credit. I don’t mean to be grumpy; I just don’t enjoy time wasted.